The popular instant messaging service for smartphones WhatsApp will soon introduce a long-awaited feature of recalling and deleting messages.

The feature was spotted on WhatsApp's official support page after it apparently went live by mistake. The instructions from the messenger's support team, deleted shortly after they were published, described in detail how "recalling messages" would work.

According to the instructions, users would be able to unsend a specific message up to five minutes after sending, however after that time frame there would be no way to recall a message. The recipient of an unsend message would get a notification that reads, "This message was recalled."

Message recall has always been one of the most sought-after features in the messaging service, which now has a user base of 1.2 billion people.

WhatsApp users hope that the feature, which is expected to be introduced with the app's next update, would save them from embarrassing and regrettable messages.